On July 5-6, 2019, Pope Francis presided over a meeting with the leaders of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, stated the Holy See Press Office at the end of the event.
The Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the Metropolitans and the Members of the Permanent Synod, as well as Heads of the competent Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, took part in this meeting.
With this initiative, “the Pope wished to express his closeness to this sui iuris Oriental Catholic Church,” explains the note. The Holy Father “appreciated the history of this Church, its spiritual, liturgical, theological and canonical tradition, its fidelity to communion and to the Successor of Peter, confirmed and sealed with the blood of martyrs.”
With the objective “of the development and flowering “ of this Church in the present-day world, the participants focused on “pastoral work, evangelization, ecumenism, <and> the specific vocation” of the Greek-Catholic Church, in the context “of the socio-political situation, in particular of the war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.” They also reflected on “its service in different countries of the world.”
The Holy See wishes “to promote the harmonious development of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church as well as that of other Oriental Catholic Churches in their identity and their mission.”
Read Holy Father’s July 5 Address to Synod Here
